Scenes from the 2026 Forest Moon Festival’s First Day
Category Archives: Just For Fun
Charley Tygart Volunteered in Peru, Returned With A New Best Friend
As she prepared to take Camila home, Charley Tygart took Maite’s parting words to heart: “Never abandon her. You’re with her forever.”
Camila was one of about 20 dogs at El Refugio Privado de Perritos Soy Callejerito in Cusco, Peru. Maite had rescued her about seven years prior after her owner had gouged out her eye for attacking a rabbit.
Charley, who had spent 10 weeks volunteering at the animal rescue, said she knew she would have a special relationship with the dog when she kept coming up to her asking for belly rubs.
“Those first four to five weeks when I was by myself, I was with her every day,” Charley said. “Once we got more volunteers, I wasn’t seeing her as much. But when I finally made the decision that I want to adopt her, (Maite) made it an effort for me to spend more time with (Camila) daily.”
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Fostering Community Through Tabletop Gaming
Photos by Aisling Bludworth.
The sounds of mirth filled the air at the Brookings Elks Lodge 1934 last weekend, as over 538 people dove headfirst into the world of tabletop gaming. Attendance has been steadily growing since its origin in 2023 at the Chetco Grange. At the Grange Hall people were packed wall to wall for a one-day event they weren’t sure would ever come around again. The event was a way to meet like-minded people, which is sorely needed in an area as isolated as we are.
Harbor Game Convention devised by Ian Crockett was originally focused on three core areas of tabletop gaming: board games, tabletop roleplaying games, and trading card games. The first year there were so many cosplayers, people who create costumes of fictional characters, at the event that the next year there was a cosplay contest. In this way, the history of the event mirrors the history of tabletop gaming as the convention has greatly expanded its scope in the few years it has been running. Outside vendors have started sponsoring events. The Kobold’s Lair, which I work for, is a local gaming shop that ran two Magic the Gathering events each day of Harbor Game Con that sold out each day. This convention is filling a need in our community, and giving our youth something positive to do.
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CCHD Financial Officer Says She’ll Make Lighted Boat Parade Happen
Thumbnail photo: The Jennifer Anne received participated in the lighted boat parade at the Crescent City Harbor in 2023. | Photo courtesy of Mike Bahr
Four members of the Crescent City Harbor District gave their blessing to Sandy Moreno to hold a lighted boat parade, though the date she is shooting for was about two weeks away.
Moreno, the Harbor District’s financial officer, told commissioners Friday that while staff told her that holding a festival this late in the season would be a heavy lift, she was sure she could pull it together for 5-7 p.m. Dec. 20 — the Saturday before Christmas.
“We need a positive thing to happen,” Moreno said, adding that she would work with former commissioner Harry Adams, owner of Stella’s Adventures charter boat tours. “A light show would be great for the community and I’ll make it happen. You say let’s do it and I’ll make something happen.”
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Start Your Engines: Sea Cruise Rolls Into Town Friday, Saturday
Thumbnail photo by Paul Critz
Those looking for a quiet stroll along the water with shorebirds for company should steer clear of Crescent City on Saturday.
Hundreds of hot rods, rat rods, muscle cars, trucks, Mustangs, Corvettes and motorcycles will dot Beachfront Park and at noon, they’ll wake up.
“We’re going to let the town know we’re here,” Crescent City-Del Norte County Executive Director Cindy Vosburg said. “You’ll have 200 to 300 vehicles start at once, revving their engines.”
The Rumble at Noon is a new feature of the 34th annual Sea Cruise Outdoor Car Show. Del Norte’s tribute to chrome, rubber and community starts with the Show & Shine and a sanctioned two-way cruise on Friday in Downtown Crescent City.
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DNHS Music Department Turns Up The Heat This Memorial Day Weekend
Slideshow: Screenshots from the last Chili Pepper Fundraiser video | Courtesy Dan Sedgwick
Two years ago for Christmas the Del Norte High School music department attempted an unconventional fundraiser. Students from band and choir teamed up to play and sing “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”… with a twist. Part way through the concert, participants were challenged to eat a chili pepper before continuing their musical fare. The event was a hit with students and donors alike, ultimately raising around $10,000.
This year, the school’s music department hopes to match that figure as they revive the chili challenge for a spicy take on “America The Beautiful” as part of a Memorial Day fundraising blitz.
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Down the Rabbit Hole of Poland’s Indianist Movement
Last year I took a trip and spent nearly 3 months in Poland. After only a few weeks of staying there, I came to the realization that, despite such a large cultural and geographical gap between my home and the Slavic country, I and many others had much more in common than I first thought. What started out as a cultural exchange between me and the many Poles I met quickly turned into a rabbit hole of information I had never even known existed. A one-off conversation about Native American tribes turned into the realization that there was an entire movement about them, spanning generations, all the way across the world. Strangely, it all ties back to a 60’s Americana-based trend. . .
Cowboys and Indians – you’ve definitely heard of the concept. It’s a cliche in American pop culture, most pronounced during the heyday of the Western movie. It sparked a generation of American children’s imaginations, playing as gun-shooting, horseback-riding cowboys fighting Native Americans. However, it wasn’t just American kids during this era that were captivated by this myth. Over 5,000 miles across the world and deep behind the Iron Curtain, Poland — a Slavic Eastern European country — would play Cowboys and Indians too, except it wouldn’t be the “righteous” cowboys in the lead role, fending off Natives. Rather, it was the Natives defending their land from the greedy, destructive cowboys.
Why exactly did this role reversal occur, and how did playing Cowboys and Indians contribute to an informal movement of support for Native Americans in a distant Slavic land?
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‘Something This Amazing’; Crescent City Cuts The Ribbon On New Pump Track
Crescent City cut the ribbon Saturday on the first amenity at Beachfront Park built using Prop 68 grant money. | Jessica C. Andrews
Wesley Phillips’ experience with pump tracks is limited — the new course at Crescent City’s Beachfront Park was his first taste.
Though the official grand opening wasn’t until last Saturday, Wesley’s dad, Tom Phillips, said his son had already been practicing. Wesley and his friends Aidan Evans and Landon and Chase Feight were demo riders — zipping over the jumps and scaling the wall ride, the wooden structure towering above the rest of the track — while Tom looked on.
“He’s blown away by it,” Tom said, watching Wesley and his buddies. “He had always ridden bikes and asked [me], ‘Can you build me a jump?’”
As the bike pump track took shape over the last two months, Wesley’s thoughts have been “nothing else but BMX,” his dad says.
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Pump Track Ribbon Cutting Set For Saturday, And Other City Council News
Crescent City councilors approved bike pump track rules ahead of its Saturday grand opening.
The new rules require users to wear a helmet, elbow pads and knee pads and states that kids under age 12 must be under adult supervision, City Attorney Martha Rice said Monday. The regulations set the facility’s hours from dawn to dusk and limit its use to “non-motorized wheeled devices.”
Anyone flouting those rules will either be suspended from the facility or receive an administrative citation, Rice said. Though the ordinance won’t take effect for another 30 days, the rules will be posted at the pump track’s entrance.
The pump track grand opening will start at 11 a.m. Saturday at Beachfront Park and will include giveaways and riding demonstrations. Kids are also urged to bring their helmets and bicycles. The city and the Del Norte Trail Alliance are sponsoring the event.
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